


Hold Me Like An Anchor, Float Just Like A Cloud

by milkyway



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Children, Domestic Derek and Stiles, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Feels, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, M/M, Married Couple, Mates, Pack Dynamics, Pack Feels, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-15
Packaged: 2018-01-15 20:30:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1318195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkyway/pseuds/milkyway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Derek and Stiles decide to take the big leap and have kids, their relationship grows in ways they would never have expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold Me Like An Anchor, Float Just Like A Cloud

“Next!”

The voice was shrill and irritable.

Victoria Getty squinted through her horn-rimmed glasses at the two anxious young men who had cautiously approached her desk. Weak winter sunlight splashed through the blinds, casting a criss-cross pattern across her sallow skin. She was just shy of three hundred, and the old bat really looked it today as she huffed and shuffled a pile of papers into some semblance of order. 

“Hello,” said the taller and bigger of the two men pleasantly. “Mrs Getty?” 

"Indeed," she said flatly.

She caught the woody, almost smoky scent of alpha werewolf instantly, and a weak pulse of alarm splayed across her core for a moment. After years of being around werewolves, however, the old vampire had learned to quell the ingrained aversion she had held for over a century. She could tell this one was a real softie inside, the way he curled his arm protectively around the other, lanky brown-haired man with his dewy doe eyes. She had to admit, they made a very cute couple. 

"Let’s see,” she muttered as she perused the file the werewolf had handed her. “Oh yes. Mr Hale, Dr. Stilinski. You’re here to enquire about a life-giver?”

Both men nodded. 

“Do sit down,” Mrs Getty said, indicating the frayed office chairs in front of her desk. The office was tiny, and screamed sick building syndrome. The Welfare and Family Affairs Department of The Californian Werewolf Supreme Council was a rather sad-looking affair housed on the seventeenth floor of a nondescript office block in Sacramento.

Stiles and Derek settled uneasily into the rickety chairs. If Derek had noticed that the old woman was a vampire, he hadn’t let on, but Stiles felt his magic twitch under his skin. Mrs Getty picked up the vibration instantly.

“I say, are those the vibes of a worker I'm picking up?” she said, not unpleasantly. “I _thought_ you smelled a little sharper than the average human…”

“Stiles is a Red, in fact,” said Derek coolly, just stopping himself from showing his fangs. 

Stiles nodded, dumbfounded, impressed that the vampire didn’t flinch at one of the few creatures who could destroy one of her kind with a single bolt of light from their hands.

“Impressive,” said Mrs Getty. “Now before you ask, yes, I am a vampire, and if you want to know why I work for the Werewolf Supreme Council; honestly, I’ve found vampire life boring since the 1920s. I am a fully qualified social worker and nurse… trained in the Korean War… and let’s just say it helps to have people who are, well, cool-tempered overseeing delicate affairs like pack squabbles and orphaned cubs.”

“We didn’t mean to…” asked Derek, now disarmed

Mrs Getty rolled her eyes and flipped through the file with a bored expression. “It’s fine, dearie. I get it all the time. You warm-bloods are so easy to read. So… mmm… Mr Stilinski... _Vojtech_ is it? That’s an august old Czech name. Though I see you like to be called Stiles? And Stilinski… that must be Polish. You’re a right royal Eastern European mongrel. How divine.”

“Um, yeah,” said Stiles, who had become unusually quiet. Stiles was usually the talkative one: he’d jabbered the ear off the lawyer when they worked out their prenuptial agreement (something the Sheriff and Melissa had insisted upon) and spent a whole day arguing with the wedding planner about string quartets. “You’re the first person who’s pronounced it correctly the first time they’ve seen it.”

“I lived in Prague, once,” said Getty with a faraway look. “So lovely. I met Kafka a couple of times. Nice boy, but my God, way too serious. Tasted delicious though.”

Derek shuddered looked at Stiles nervously. 

Getty snorted as she busied herself reading through the rest their application. “Fine, fine, don’t mind me. Let’s get to it. So. You’ve been mates for seven years now… good, good, married too… ah, excellent character references… both professionally qualified, a psychotherapist and a doctor? _Very_ nice, wonderful joint income… yes, on first perusal I think the local Councillor will definitely consider an audience with you. You seem like excellent parental material on paper. Though, Mr Hale, because you are an Alpha, and a very well-respected one I might add, the right to an interview would have been granted to you immediately in any case?”

“I know,” said Derek, “but I wanted to go through the proper channels all the same. I don’t want any special treatment. Neither does my husband. We’ve seen enough bigotry with same-sex couplesin the regular system.”

Mrs Getty nodded gravely. “I understand. So who will be donating, if you are granted a life-giver?”

“Donating?” said Stiles, furrowing his brow.

“Sperm, young man,” said Getty, blinking, and Derek coughed. “You know, that vital secretion from a male that’s full of genetic material? You _are_ a doctor I take it? Do I have to phone Stanford and tell them their medical school has gone to… _seed_ … see what I did there…”

Stiles flushed peuce while Getty cackled.

“Well, who? Here’s a pamphlet that explains the genetics, which I’m sure one of you can figure out anyway. Most of our life-givers are werewolves themselves if carrying on the gene is important. But the council has no issue whether a human mate or werewolf mate donates. Another option, if you’re considering having more than one child you can each have a go? That way the children will be genetic half-siblings and you each get a chance to pass on your genetic information. Just a thought.”

“Um… um…” Derek stammered.

“Young men,” Getty said, rolling her heavily mascara’ed eyes. “They’re always so squeamish when discussing the nuts and bolts, yet you two are such _prime_ specimens of manhood you must be going at each other like rabbits every day… ah, I remember being in my twenties once… now, now, I apologise, it’s just been a long day and I haven’t fed… for a while… and the sun’s starting to irritate me so I’m a bit more talkative than usual. Basically I just need you to sign the following health declaration, verify your identities and then I’ll get you to see the Councillor. Then we can set you up with a life-giver once he approves.”

“Th-thank you,” said Stiles. “To be honest, we hadn’t thought about who would… and… _two…_ Derek?”

“Not at once, of course,” said Getty pleasantly. “Unless of course you are blessed with twins. Several of our life-givers happily surrogate more than once for selected families, and, judging by the status of your pack, it would be a great honour.”

“I…I still am gobsmacked how prevalent and accepted it is among werewolves… surrogacy for same-sex couples…” said Stiles with admiration.

Derek shrugged. “Everybody has the right to family,” he said. “Werewolves know a thing or two about discrimination, and same-sex couples have been accepted for centuries, you know that babe. Besides, cubs get raised by the whole pack. We’re practically parents already with our godchildren.”

Stiles smiled warmly and nodded. Just the previous evening, they’d babysat Scott and Allison’s twins for the millionth time while the McCalls had their weekly date night. After their bath and dinner Derek had treated them (or was it horrified them?) with his renditions of songs from _The Little Mermaid_ and _The Jungle Book_ (Allison insisted on showing her kids the classics), Stiles accompanying him at the piano. Derek’s Ariel was quite lovely, albeit in a deep bass-baritone. 

“Ah, prior experience, you should have mentioned that,” said Getty. “Too many Alphas take on too many responsibilities that they don’t have time to help raise other wolves’ cubs. Anyway, I’ll add that to your application. Looking good!”

Stiles leaned in and gave his husband a peck on the cheek.

“Now, would you want the life giver to be a wet-nurse for the first few months too? It’s up to you. Many modern couples choose that option… as you know, werewolf milk is especially nutritious, whether your baby is a werewolf or not.”

“But wouldn’t that confuse…”

“Parents are those who raise a child and give him or her unconditional love. But just to reassure you, the wet-nursing process is strictly overseen by the Supreme Council. _You_ do all the parenting, the biological mother simply provides the milk, in return you provide the life-giver —like you would through the pregnancy— with food, shelter and maintenance until the child is about six months old. That is the tradition.”

“So,” said Stiles. “Just to clarify. Again. Because it gets me every time. Werewolf women really do this simply for the experience?”

“The urge to reproduce… it’s stronger in werewolves, in some ways,” said Derek. 

“Precisely,” said Mrs Getty. “But not all werewolves want to settle down and be in packs immediately, and females stay fertile for longer. Many become life-givers at first for the experience, to give something back, for those who can’t have children of their own…”

“So… we’re gonna do this,” said Stiles. “I mean, assuming we get approved. I’m.. I’m, oh God, really excited now… I’m nervous…”

“Being approved is merely a formality,” said Getty. “I’ve never misjudged an application. And I’ve been here since the Kennedy administration, sweetcakes. Oh, and you’re in luck. Looks like Councillor Hashimoto will see you two in the next half-an-hour, I just sensed him walking into the building.”

Derek squeezed Stiles’s hand, and nuzzled him gently. 

“Get a room, you two,” the old vampire muttered. “Actually, _I’m_ going to go have a… er… break. I’ve got some A positive in the fridge that’s going to go off if I don’t… never mind.”

As Mrs Getty shuffled off, Stiles and Derek gazed at each other.

“We’re gonna be dads!” said Stiles, suddenly, and whooped. “Oh my God, Derek, we’re gonna be dads!”

Derek just couldn’t any more. He threw his arms around his mate and started whining with happiness.

Glints were flickering in both men’s eyes as they made love later that night: glints that would sparkle brighter and brighter as the moon smiled to herself. As she shone on Stiles and Derek’s intertwined forms, she knew that one day soon, there would be a new member of the pack, and that howls of joy would be echoing across the skies of Beacon Hills.

 

 


End file.
